Korean MP3 player maker Aigo has begun offering the Omnisphere F529, a conical digital music player with built in amplification and multi-directional sound. Joining it in the bizarre design department is Naf Naf's almost spherical CD player, the Hyp.

Whether that's Hyp as is in 'hip' or 'hype' isn't clear. The 26cm diameter device has a radio on board, a cassette bay and a CD player. Its MP3 credibility is provided by the optical drive, which can handle data discs packed with songs formatted that way. Its two stereo speakers can each pump out 2W.

The Omnisphere goes up to 8W and is true MP3 player - it's got 1GB of Flash memory on board, and can take song-filled MMC and SD cards. It hooks up to a PC for song transfer across a USB 2.0 cable.

Both the Aigo machine and the Hyp cost around £70. ®

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